Creolization in French Caribbean Music

In this blog I will be examining French Caribbean Music. The textbook 'Tour de Force: A Musical Journey of The Caribbean' examples of said examining.

One example the book had a meringue musical style from Haiti. This musical style came from a cohesion of contradanse music from European ballrooms with African-derived music. Typical instruments in the meringue form are the tanbou, congas, saxophone, trumpets, guitars, trombones and bass. According to the text. the authors stated that instruments like the violin, piano and flute are also apart of the meringue musical style.

Here is a photo of a Haitian group who sang in the meringue style.


picture taken from: https://img.discogs.com/6ycPASKjYYgAvR9

This video is an example of Haitian meringue and voodoo music.



Video taken from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYVvzpeaOBo

Another example from the text is biguine music which originated from Martinique. Biguine is a combination of Bele music and French ballroom music with a touch of African rhythms. the authurs of the textbook had stated that syncopated rhythms and interplays between clarinets and trombones or guitar and bass. 

Here is a photo of a Martinique biguine sniger and songwriter, Leona Gabriel.

picture taken from: https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.a5b5ca73ff65d4d97d32993

Here is a video of this artist singing her song 'Liva'


video taken from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU-t9-6FpqU

The final and last aspect I will discuss in this French blog will be food. Guadeloupe's French dish is a blend of Amerindian, African and Indian influences. this dish contains pork, herbs, various spices ( curry powder, cumin and allspice) and potatoes and onions.

 

Here is a picture of the Guadeloupe dish 


picture taken from: https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.c770b406bc647d450ab9a7a37b4e047c?r
Here is a video on how to prepare this dish

video taken from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv4GLHWUckQ


References: 

Gangelhoff, C., & LeGrand, C. (2019, December 31). Tour de Force: A Musical Journey of The Caribbean. Sound Caribbean







 

 


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